If conditioner rhymes with pain

Against the summer heat, air conditioning in your home, office and car is a great relief. But it must be used with criterion so as not to incur annoying pains and more.

After winter, especially if it is cold and long like this year’s, who has not invoked the sun and the summer heat? But when the heat wave arrives, we would like to eat it all back. And rightly so.

However, often we do not know how to regulate ourselves, and here those who own an air conditioner, home or office, but also in the car, put their hand to the controls and … It tends to shoot a thousand cold air. Nothing could be more wrong to do.

It is true, in fact, that an environment with too high temperatures and humidity and insufficient ventilation can cause even serious illnesses, especially in the most susceptible people such as the elderly, the chronically ill, very young children and pregnant women, but also air conditioning is not exempt from dangers to our health.

When possible, conditioning is welcome, but with due caution.

If the right precautions are not taken, in fact, we could find ourselves fighting with sore throat, headache or stiff neck, but also with much more serious disorders such as bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections.

So let’s see how to best use the artificial cool.

Maintenance first

Before thinking about how to best use air conditioners, it is good to remember that illnesses do not derive only from poorly managed temperatures.

The appliances must be well functioning and, above all, have clean and efficient filters. Otherwise along with fresh air we could breathe harmful agents. Allergens, such as dust or pollen, but also bacteria and viruses.

Typical examples are cold viruses or the bacterium Legionella pneumophila, known to have caused (over thirty years ago) an epidemic with headache, fever and general malaise in a Philadelphia hotel in which, in fact, the air conditioning filters had not been cleaned.

Never polar temperatures

Once we have ascertained that we are dealing with equipment in order, we avoid getting carried away. Temperatures should not be set too low compared to the outside temperature. Also taking into account that our body is programmed to be at its best in environments at 25-27 ° C. Word of the Ministry of Health.

Experts warn: the difference between the premises where you stay (or the inside of the car) and the outside should never be greater than 5-6 degrees.

Temperature changes are especially harmful for children and the elderly in which the body struggles to adapt to sudden temperature changes.

Right degrees for every occasion

But that’s not all. There are also special moments when a cold snap is even more dangerous.

After eating, for example, a sudden drop in temperature can cause slow digestion, or even cause congestion.

And then, be careful at night. While we sleep we usually lower our body temperature already by itself as the metabolism slows down.

With the conditioning on we therefore risk “cooling” too much without realizing it.

With the result that the next morning we could wake up completely voiceless or full of pain, with numb muscles.

Muscle pain and back pain due to contractures are in fact frequent with too cold air. As well as the stiff neck is lurking in the car, for those who love to travel at too low temperatures.

In these cases, an anti-inflammatory analgesic for self-medication can help us face the day, but to avoid these inconveniences it is good that we get used to cooling the room before going to bed, and then lowering or turning off the air conditioner during the night. We will fall asleep fresh, but without taking risks.

A further general precaution is to cover yourself every time you go from the outside heat to a colder and ventilated environment, also avoiding exposure directly to cold air. Especially if you are sweaty. We will thus dodge pains and annoying laryngitis and tracheitis.